Daolese Civil War
The Daolese Civil War was a major conflict beginning at the death of the Honshe Emperor, seeing fighting in the streets of the Imperial Capital and across the empire. The war was fought between the Daolese state, dissident elements of the Daolese armed forces known as the National Faction, and loosely-aligned revolutionary workers movements collectively known as the Ren Movement. Gaoyang Clique and the beginning of the conflict The beginning of the war is usually recorded as the point at which a group of generals, known as the Gaoyang Clique, signed a declaration of opposition to the government of emperor-designate Yushui Yuhai (soon-to-be the Huayu Emperor). The declaration insisted that the Yuhai line, and the modes of government it espoused, had lost heavenly favour and thus legitimacy as evidenced by the Honshe Emperor's violent death. They called for an end to the system of bureaucratic scholar-aristocrats in government, who relied on heavy taxation and under whose rule Daolin had been forced to join the Grand Imperial Coalition, and advocated the return of an ascendant noble military class to power. They were backed by the New Gonshu Society, a paramilitary civilian organisation whose membership comprised about a third of Imperial Courtiers. Members desired a return to the system of the Gonshu Dynasty where military officials deposed their noble masters in the east of Daolin and established their own martial state which came to rule the entirety of Daolin barring the Imperial Hai. These groups together formed the National Faction, who drafted a text known as the National Mandate, whose policies included: the banning of all non-approved organisations; implementing a nationwide military draft; enforcement of the Hongyi faith as sole state religion' abolishing regional autonomy; and the banning of languages other than Standard Imperial Daolese. Early stages of the Civil War Units loyal to the National Faction quickly took over the administration of key military locations around the empire, establishing the Military State Government in the city of Shidong. The takeover attempt was most successful in the principalities of Laofeng and Shidong, as well as in the Company Domain on the southeastern coast, effectively surrounding the central Haikei administration although leaving the western and southwestern coasts open. The principality of Zhigan stood in resistance to the National Faction, being majority Saheric and so vulnerable to the National Mandate's policies on state religion, but they were cut off from the rest of the empire and low in population. Their capital at Yuen was taken within a month. Ren Movement In the years prior, labour tensions in the south of Daolin had been rising and peasants had been agitating. The entrenched class system of Daolin left the peasant class few avenues for legal recourse and so they were forced to resort to mass striking. Daolese state suppression of these strikes lead to further radicalisation and the illegal establishment of the Popular Army, an armed volunteer group dedicated to the protection of striking workers. The political theories of Sunghalan academic Sadish Kihna, advocating an overthrow of the ruling class and bringing about common ownership of the land, were popularised both in illiterate peasant circles and by a minority of academics in Daolin's university system. Collectively known as the Ren Movement, these revolutionary peasants and academics were supported by the High Kingdom of Ardair, [[Sunghala|'Sunghala']], and the International Workers' Front (IWF), and were generally supported by secessionists in the Tsung Kingdom as well as the [[Driakana people|'Driakana people']]. Ren Opposition to the National Faction Military officers in the south had risen with the National Faction but were fiercely resisted by Ren Movement radicals when they attempted to enforce the National Mandate on the local populace. The Popular Army was repurposed from a strike protection force to one of active rebellion. Many low-ranked soldiers sympathised with the Ren Movement above the National Faction and defected to the Popular Army. In more than one case, an entire garrison mutinied and handed control from their officers over to the Ren Movement. A bloody struggle between the National Faction and the Ren Movement ensued; a period of asymmetric warfare in which Ren guerrillas, who had the support of locals, arranged attacks on patrolling National Faction units. Dock workers and farmers refused to handle goods for the National Faction until they were forced to do at gunpoint, leaving key strategic locations through the south with a deficit of troops, allowing the Popular Army to storm key National strongholds. A turning point in the conflict came with the Storming of the Prince's City where a rapid mobilisation of the Popular Army in Guoshi managed to wrest control of the Prince's City palace complex from National control, during with the Faction's regional High Commander was captured and executed. National Faction troops were eventually routed from the South and forced north, abandoning their footholds in the south completely, leaving the Ren Movement in command of a large swathe of territory from Luzhong to Guoshi and as far north as Yara. The Ren Movement adopted the slogan "No Emperor but the People, No Nation but the Revolution" signalling resistence to both the established Daolese government and the rebelling National Faction. Actions of the Loyalist government The established government under the Huayu Emperor remained in power in the Imperial Hai, on the western seaboard under the loyalist Principality of Jinsi, and the islands of the Kingdom of Three Suns - as well as in the overseas territories of the Thrones Own Military Territories, Linguo Mountain, the Autonomous Province of Qunik, and the Kingdom of Yusole. Most of the navy remained loyal to the emperor, including units originally garrisoned in territory taken by the National Faction. However the position in the Imperial Hai was uneasy; the Imperial Guard had remained loyal and not risen with the National Faction, but they were failing to hold the Hai fortifications and the National Faction had begun to encroach from the north and west. The urban working class of the Mailu Cities had also been agitating in the manner of the southern peasants in the years prior, and in light of the consolidation of the Ren Movement in the south they were of great concern to the emperor's court. Retreat of the Imperial Court Eventually the National Faction broke through the walls of the Hai in several locations and entered en masse, encircling Imperial Guard positions at the north and west gates and taking their garrisons captive. At this point most of the Imperial Court fled the Haikei for the loyalist strongholds on the west coast to establish a temporary capital at Jinsi. The Imperial Guard followed, pulling back from central Daolin entirely to the west where they could more easily resupply and organise a reconquest of the state. Train lines, bridges, and roads leading west were sabotaged by retreating soldiers. The citizenry of the Imperial Hai were left completely at the mercy of the invading National Faction and unable to flee. Ad hoc militias were formed from the memberships of the more militant labour unions, as well as from Kihnist academics and common citizens defending their families, but they were undersupplied and would not be able to pose a serious threat to the National Faction. During the flight of the Imperial Court, the Huayu Emperor went missing and was never recovered. Battle of the Haikei The Popular Army of the Ren Movement, now the consolidated armed forces of the quasi-state People's Southern Region, moved north to defend workers from the invading National Faction, now supported by Ardairian and other international volunteers and armed with arms seized from imperial weapons caches in the south as well as with newly-supplied Ardairian weaponry. In their northward march they confronted the remaining soldiers of the Imperial Guard stationed at South Gate, but after a brief exchange of gunfire the Imperial Guard surrendered their position and threw open the gates. In the Haikei, the remaining skeleton garrison of Imperial Guard troops and the ad hoc local militias came under siege of the National Faction, and were pushed back through the city as far as the Imperial Palace, fighting fist-to-fist in the city streets with improvised explosives and the antique firearms left behind in the Imperial Palace storerooms, when the Popular Army arrived in the city. Much of the city had been destroyed by Faction shelling. They were greeted by a large banner reading "No Emperor but the People, no Nation but the Revolution" hanging from the walls of the besieged palace. A commander of the Popular Army gave the famous order "There will be no end", meaning that there would be no peace or end to fighting with the National Faction, which became an enduring symbol and slogan of radicalism. The Popular Army organised a three-pronged attack, one prong entering the city to relieve the siege of the Imperial Palace and the other two cutting off the National Army retreat. The battle lasted a full week but ended in the decisive Popular victory, putting the National Army on the northward retreat as it was pursued by the victorious forces of the Ren Movement. Conclusion The Battle of the Haikei marked the first in a string of victories for the Popular Army, its membership swelling with each territory liberated from the National Faction. Eventually the Popular Army captured the cities of Laofeng and Shidong, driving the remainder of the National Faction into exile abroad. Daolin was left split between the Ren Movement administration, now known as the People's League of Daolin, and the loyalist rump of the Imperial Administration on the coast with which it had maintained an uneasy peace as they faced a common enemy. Within the Imperial Rump, there was agitation and rioting by Ren-sympathising workers. Having lost the Emperor and having no clear choice of succession, many in the commoner mercantile class that had traditionally dominated the western coast voiced support for the abolition of the emperorship and nobility. A combination of these factors led many aristocrats - including most of the House of Yuhai - to flee to the distant Daolese throne dependency of Yusole, known as the Flight of the Dragons. Sure enough, the Popular Army - having commandeered the military equipment of captured National Faction troops, including armaments, artillery aircraft, and land vehicles - mobilised along the border. However the imperial rump still had naval superiority, and a secure administrative core on the island of Jinsi. The People's League and what remained of the Empire of Daolin struck a deal, known as the Second Treaty of Three Suns, whereby the Imperial Rump would put the proposition of unification with the People's League to its citizens (an act unprecedented in metropolitan Daolin). Domains where the majority supported unification would be incorporated into the League as a commune, and domains would together constitute a new Daolese Republic. The referendum had majority support in the rural areas, which became part of the people's league, but the island of Jinsi, the city of Makun, the city of Lijong, and scattered smaller trading ports along the coast voted to form the independent Daolese Republic. The Autonomous Province of Qunik opted to join this new republic. In Puertal Iglaíso, capital of the throne dependency of Yusole, a new empire was proclaimed under Empress Salvezia Yuhai, daughter of the brother of Honshe Emperor with a Meredon Yusolés noblewoman. She was notably a devout member of the Crowned Church of Merem, and made it state religion.